I’d have to go with http://snipplr.com. They may not be as big as the other Web 2.0 sites out there, but they’re the most useful to me. Being able to share code snippets with other programmers (without leaving my text editor!) is awesome.

I don’t think these qualify as web2.0 where’s the eternal beta tag? the big starburst graphic, the technical phrase slogans, the reflective logos, all the whitespace and the ajax? isn’t that what web2.0 is all about ??

Thank you señor, for these cool picks. But I’ve always wondered, what makes something Web 2.0? Is it just cause it’s a blog? Or just ’cause it uses AJAX? Or is it becuase it’s a relatively new concept?

You see, the whole concept of Web 2.0, although thought provoking, doesn’t seem really relevant. When television went from black and white to color, nobody called it the new television, they just called it color tv. And when cable hit, nobody called it television ultra, they called it cable tv. But see, it’s just the evolution of a trusted medium.

The web…is.

It just…is.

It evolves because the users demand it to evolve, and publishers come up with fantastic new technologies to present “stuff” to the audience. It’s always going to be evolving, and it’s always going to breed new and unique ways of presenting information, education, games, movies, radio, what have you. It’s at the point where the average web surfer EXPECTS new and interesting stuff to pop up. It has, and always will be, the ultimate community, where friends will tell other friends about cool stuff they find, and business will constantly search for innovative ways of servicing their audience, and children in far off locals with a beat up computer and a small 56k internet connection can see a bigger world.

So as much as I like the idea behing WEB 2.0, the concept, to me, just doesn’t stick. The web is, and will continue to be, growing, expanding, evolving. It demands new things, it demands involvement. Whether you call it 2.0 or web ultra or 3D web, or whatever. It’s always the web.

I say, let the web be what it is. We can try to change the name or the connotation, but never the concept. It’s the web. It’s being online. It’s taking it online to the web. In my book, you just can’t get much bigger than that.

http://www.sparkpeople.com
Almost completely off of most tech radar despite its popularity. This site integrates social networking with an extensive array of diet & healthy living tools (meal plans, calorie tracker, exercise tracker, the list goes on…). They offer all of the features that many people pay $200+ a year for at ediets or weight watchers online, but at sparkpeople a full access, lifetime membership is completely free (they are ad supported).

Thank you, very informative, but it almost proves my point. Web 2.0 is a “marketing term,” it’s a term to describe “new things.” Everything mentioned is what I always thought the web to be. Now, the new thing is that the 4th wall of the web, the computer monitor, has been broken.

However, all of us internet users and enthusiasts, have been talking about this stuff for years. The interaction between websites and user, the building of the web or website by the community.

I guess I’m just not there with the moniker of web 2.0. Call me a neanderthal, but the web is the web. It does and have been doing what we have all expected to do, evolve and grow.

A person is first a baby, then grows and becomes a child, then grows and becomes a snot nosed teen, then grows and becomes a maniac raver, then grows and becomes a young man, then ages and becomes a man, then ages and becomes an old man. Now, you see this growth of a person, a human being, is….boring, because that is what we expect a human being to do. We can be happy that a person reaches each of those steps, with the dangers that are in this world, but we know what’s going to happy.

We are all Eddie Van Halen’s when it comes to the web. Remeber, Mr. Van Halen is famous for guitar work. Well, he said in an interview once, when describing how he approached the guitar, “What else can it do?”

Well, we all do that. We all dream and think, “What else can we do on the web?” You see, the web is not a new version just because a new thing can be done on it. A human being is not a new thing when it turns 13. It’s a 13 year old human being, that we call a teenager, but a person is a person. The tv is the tv, the newspaper is the newspaper.

Of course, the web is quickly becoming the most important medium in history, if it has not reached that yet. But it grows because we make it grow. We can call it little names as we reach different markers in it’s history, but in the overall scheme of things, we are all dreaming up things to do with it all the time. We are all wondering what else we can do with it, and there are some of us achieving those things.

So, as much as the term Web 2.0 is a cool catch phrase, in my humble opinion, IMHO (for those who have forgotten how to read English) it’s still a catch phrase.

Where the web takes us to, is anybody’s guess. I’m just strapped in, enjoying the ride, and screaming “Wahooo” when it’s fun, and wetting my pants when it’s not.

I like Magnolia, it is currently one of my favourites and houses some interesting content that others have saved there.
I spent an evening recently going though some of it which turned intoa 4 hour session of reading.

I agree with RobG. There’s no such thing as Web 2.0. It’s just the Web, and it continues to evolve. I particularly like this from Rob’s post:-

When television went from black and white to color, nobody called it the new television, they just called it color tv. And when cable hit, nobody called it television ultra, they called it cable tv. But see, it’s just the evolution of a trusted medium.

When the Web started, there was the Web. There was no system for styling documents (no font selections, etc.), or for creating page layouts – there was no HTML and no Styles. It was the World Wide Web – the Web. Then Styles came in, but it was still just the Web. Then HTML came along, but it was still just the Web. Then Flash, then streaming, then …, etc., and it’s still just the Web.

The ways of creating webpages has changed through the years, but they always work on the Web. There’s no Web 2.0, except in the imagination of a few people, but it’s only imagination.

One of the coolest I’ve seen lately is http://www.bookrags.com/ A real showcase of what can be done with reaggregating content, the site takes articles from different encyclopedias and various sources and groups them by topic. Think answers.com on crack.

I really like http://www.eventful.com – nice API and open approach.
Also liked several of the contenders at the recent MashupCamps in Mountain View.http://weatherbonk.com (The Mashup 2 Winner)http://frucall.comhttp://realestatefu.mashfu.com/http://podbop.org (Winner of Mashup 1)
I’m surprised people here don’t seem to see, as Tim OReilly and John Battelle point out frequently, that 2.0 is qualitatively different in terms of the way people use and process the growing body of internet info. And perhaps more importantly how online communities are in the process of trumping online technologies.

“but it’s only imagination” … i am tired of these anti-Web2.0 riots, we (who make the web), know that it is just a bit more Javascript and a bit more DHTML with a few feedback forms, but the shift from b&w TV to color was important for the commercial success and it made the TV go one step further.

I just take it for what it is: a name for the actual “mood” on the web and it is ok. Make your peace with it, it is just a name, like “Color TV” is just a name for a “non b&w TV”…

When Office 2003 came out, nobody got upset about it and said: waitaminute, it is almost like Office 2000… why? because it is just a name. Let’s call it Web2.0, it’s fine…

I like this Congoo software. You dont actually need their software to search but it seems that you do need the software to access the premium content for free. Here’s an Image search I did for Paris Hilton. The Images they use arent Web images: http://www.congoo.com/images?query=paris+hilton

Sorry to get you all hot and bothered there bro. Again, this is just my personal opinion, and we all know the old saying about opinions.

In the end, I, or any other individual person, has no control over what a thing is called, or what funny euphemisms, or even serious euphemisms, that the populace in general will call a thing. I think MEME is a popular term. In as far as meme’s go, this one is a cool one. I like the connotations, and I have made my peace with what we in the web world call it. I just don’t think that anybody else will start calling it that. They might for a little while, and that’s where you will be vindicated, and I’ll look stupid. But then, it will go away, and it will be the web again.

I love it that the web is evolving. I wouldn’t be on the web if I didn’t. Call it what you will. Every achievement we make in making the web more fun, intelligent, user centered, emotional, intuitive, community driven, user driven, is AOK in my book. Give me new and cool ways to communicate. Give me cool and new ways to connect. Give me all the stuff anybody can think about. And whether it’s called Web 2.0 or Web Ultra, who the heck cares? The web is doing what it is supposed to do, be the web.

When a new mustang comes out, I don’t hear anyone saying things like, Car 2.0. It’s a new car. A great new car, and cool and sexy to boot, but it’s the logical evolution of a car. Just like those itty bitty euro freaky “smart cars.” Their neat, and use nothing on gas, and I saw one in that DaVinci Code movie. But it’s a car, and I, and all of you, expect innovation. We don’t expect anything less than innovation.

Look, I liken the web to a mountain. And like many Native Americans and Aboriginal people’s cultures teach them, it’s dumb as hell to name a mountain, because the mountain was there before you came, and the mountain will be there after your gone. It (the mountain) could care less what you name it.

And now, that’s the web. It’s power and strength is without question. Everybody here came to the web waaaaaaayyyyyyyy after it was invented, and the web will probably be here wwwwaaayyyyyyy after we are gone. When, and if, it just is not the same as it was, then we change the name.

Alchemy is now chemistry. (I tried to think of other names that have changed, but I’m a little dense at this hour) And that might happen to the web.

Whatever you call new ways of doing things on the web, great, super, fantastic. I’m with you bro. But that’s what everybody expects of the web, new and cool things.

So you might call it Web 2.0, I call it new cool stuff on the web, and lets agree to not hate each other. There’s enough LAMP elitists vs. Microsoft elitist hate out there to make everyone laugh.

Not to promote my own site, but myself and a couple fishing buddies decided to put together our knowledge of web development and graphic design with our love for Web 2.0 concepts and good old fashioned angling. We came up with Central Florida Fishing Report. Basically it’s a little bit of MySpace profiles mixed with Wikipedia user edited and submitted content and fishing reports an iCalendar format feed and RSS feeds oozing from every pore. We got a cool Google Maps mashup in the works too, about a week out of live release on that one. I think it’s safe to say it’s the only Web 2.0 fishing site in existence. And in case you’re wondering, the old timers are loving it!

Im not sure of the current situation regarding Web 2.0 related real estate sites in the US but there is some cool mashups happening in the UK with regards to the mappings API’s. One I like is Zoomf (http://www.zoomf.com) which does some cool stuff but is just London focused at the moment.

I haven’t played with the others yet, but I’m already a Performancing lover – and I don’t think I even use it near it’s potential (yet). It’s really useful for bloggers, especially those that browse using the ‘Fox (which is a large percentage of them, I think).

The problem with “Web 2.0” is that it implies a new version of the Web, as though the Web we are used to is the old version. It isn’t a new version, of course, but how many Web users know that it isn’t. It’s a very poor choice of expression to use for what they mean – and I still don’t know what they mean, because I’ve no desire to know.

Well I am biased of course but boardtracker.com is a handy system for searching and tracking/monitoring (ie. “persistent search”) message board discussions which is an oft overlooked but thriving area of the social net landscape.. boardtracker not only provides search for boards but also provides board mods to add many of the expected ‘web2.0’ features such as tagging and clouds, networking between isolated boards, syndication etc.

Despite the hype, blogs are not the be all and end all, there’s really a whole lot of conversation going on in the boardscape now and its showing no sign of slowing. Have a browse or search through the millions of conversations we already track to see what you’re missing if you don’t currently follow the boards..

Magnolia: I recently installed a CMS called Krang, and while its functionality and extensibility are amazing, it has a very steep learning curve. Probably the hardest part for me was just learning a new vocabulary (what the heck’s a “slug’, for example?) If Magnolia can allow people to customize the look and feel of their articles easily, then it’s a huge opportunity for the small online businesses.

Performancing: Interesting site, but it took me a while to “get it”. How about putting the “About Us” link at the top? It took me a couple of minutes of confusedly reading stuff on the home page before I thought to look for an “about” post on the footer.

And, I’m going to post a shameless plug for my own company: Talkr (http://www.talkr.com). Talkr automatically converts blogs into podcasts. If you’ve been interested in trying out podcasting, but your blog takes up too much of your time, please give Talkr a try!

Don’t hate Web 2.0. Names seem to stick because they’re catchy and the majority like them. Its just a name and its going to take a hell of a lot more work than a few sour apple’s complaining to change it. In other words don’t bother.

Here in Canada I thought “loonie” was a dumb name for our dollar coin when it came out, (it has a loon on one side). But this is how everyone refers to the dollar coin. Then the two dollar coin came out and the name “twonie” stuck! Twonie!!! How gay is that!?!

My point is that I still like using money and even spending it. I call the coins twonie and loonie because thats what they are… and I don’t even think of how stupid the names are anymore. So my bet is that Web 2.0 will last as long as the web stays all sovereigny and ajaxy it needs to and ain’t nothin you can do about it.

Thanks for including Pegasus News on your list even though we aren’t launched yet (coming November).

In case it’s not clear from the blog link (probably isn’t), our demo is at http://texasgigs.com. Consider that the music section of the larger news service that will compete with local market dailies and weeklies.

All that Web 2.0 stuff is interesting (I’m sure) but get a load of that graphic of the man with his finger on the red button. I couldn’t stop myself from giggling when I noticed it. That’s new isn’t it?

Matt, seeing as how we’re talking about Web 2.0 companies on the same day you added a cartoon image of yourself to your blog, I have to make one last mention of http://www.cartoondollemporium.com, which now gets over 1 million visitors a month and has the Matt Cutts dress up doll, which by the way you are free to take. 🙂

I personally like very much NewsVine. So much that I become an
editor. It is very nice to share different thoughts, ideas, news with
people with the same intrests. Beside of that, newsvine has a
great design and it’s extremely easy to participate.

I also use Performancing — mainly to track my blog activity. I found
Performancing a little bit too complicated, but the blog info rock
the bottom.

It’s a social trading site I use to trade my favorite websites. I spend many hours a day trading on itsdEx for tons of great reasons.

1. I get updated Alexa and other web stats, with a portfolio of sites I buy, and a watchlist of sites that I can access throught the itsdEx Firefox or Flock bar

2. I see what other traders have in their watchlist, such as Kleiner Perkins, Benchmark, China Sites, Web 2.0 Companies in Spain, to get live updated traffic data, and quality collections of sites to see who is really winning and losing with getting traffic to their site

3. I started with $100,000 in play money and built it up to over $10MM, which makes my marketing job now fun because I’m playing a social trading game.

4. Site profiles let me get detailed traffic history, performance charts and socially icons for all the traders who own virtual shares in my favorite sites.

Comparing the transition of the b&w TV to the color TV with the transition of Web 1.0 to 2.0 is pretty dumb.

When our TV becomes a communication-device (from the consumers point-of-view) we WILL call it different…
There didn’t change anything in the way the TV operated when we went from B&W to color. We still had no input.

Web 2.0 gives users/consumers the ability to create, react, link-up, discuss etc.
Web 1.0 was just a color TV with a lot of different channels.

I’m currently working on a somewhat 2.0 site called Bessed. The site is a Web directory/search engine, but built on WordPress so visitors can comment on the sites that show up for different search terms or nominate their own sites to be included. Visitors can’t directly make changes, but their input is definitely wanted.

It’s just getting going, but we’re going to make a heavy push to the Webmaster community soon to get it built up faster (links are free as long as they pass muster). The site might not exactly be Web 2.0, but we think it’s sort of Open Directory 2.0 — what the Open Directory should have been if it hadn’t become ruled by untouchable “experts” with agendas.

http://www.documentary-art.net allows Filmators to create Filmations. Filmations are presentation like, Flash based films. You upload your pics, sound, video, and Flash films, and compile them using the sound as the marker to trigger changes. Its sort of like a very elegent form of Flash with no other software needed to make your own films.

http://www.peertrainer.com is another one off the beaten path. They are web 2.0 in the sense that users are brought together–in groups (but not necessarily a social network), and users can add and edit food information in the form of a calorie wiki. There are the usual member blogs. The most interesting aspect of the site is that it is not a diet and does not offer advice- the users do that. Almost every company out there pushes endless diets, tricks, gimmicks. Peertrainer took the opposite approach, knowing that the vast majority of people know what to do (eat less excercise more), they just need the support to follow through. Almost a virtual weight watchers, in the sense that the total focus of the site is to get direct support from humans, in a smaller or larger group setting. Their users are fanatically loyal, and this one has the makings of building an interesting brand over time. Most importantly, Peertrainer works very well for its members, with many saying the support they get from the site is in many ways better than commercial offerings like Weight Watchers.

I’ve gotten involved with an NGO with a mission to build a search engine to help refugees relocate each is lost in the wake of humanitarian disasters. Their website can be found at http://www.refunite.org.

Being a web 2.0 organisation, they need links and publicity to really make a difference. Now isn’t that a subtle hint? 😉

New “top 20 Web 2.0 Companies” list is out by Rick Broida at Computer Shopper. Interesting list here is what he has to say:

“So what makes a site or service “Web 2.0”? While a specific set of criteria doesn’t exist, most of these next-generation sites and services offer new technological tricks, an emphasis on community and user-generated content, or a combination of both. Plus, many of the services are free, and only a few try to sell you premium-service upgrades.

We picked 20 of the best sites that have been tagged “Web 2.0.” Every single one answers a need, offers help, presents some practical value, or at least provides a good dose of fun—quite a contrast from the original dot-com wave, when the Web was awash with unoriginal, ill-conceived, or often pointless services. (Remember Flooz?) Whatever the motivation behind these great sites, we’ve never been happier to be online. ”

43things, Pandora, PEERtrainer are some of those mentioned on both this thread and his list. He adds Zillow, Google Page Creator, Yahoo Answers, Windows Live Local, Clipmarks, Groovy, Jotspot and a couple others. I like his focus on practical value as opposed to the often overly techy and minimalist stuff that abounds.

They need a little work on their store themes, but the store software really helps make many of the tedious marketing tasks much easier. I haven’t seen a store software that allows merchants to use tag clouds and apply social bookmarking links on product pages before, so be sure to check those features out.

Web 2.0 is such an abstract term that I’m not sure if this site 100% qualifies or not, but it uses a lot of the features I see on trendy 2.0 sites out there to provide a better user experience over similar sites IMHO so I figured I’d add it.

http://www.boardreader.com is exactly have Web 2.0 concept, I think.
This is forum search engine like boardtracker represented in higher comments.
But what kind of technology should include site based on Web2.0?

I would have to say my newest favourite has to do with personal finance. The site is called Wasabe.com, located at you guess it, http://www.wasabe.com, basically you can upload you bank info, not your passord your account number, just the statement data, and tag it track expenses monthly home expenses, mortgage, etc.

The neat thing is it makes suggestion to you on how to save money, how you compare in your spending others in that category. Anyway, I think it’s pretty cool.

I can’t believe that Web 2.0 site, http://www.PimpMyNews.com, isn’t widely known yet. It instantly converts your favorite text news and blogs to audio (MP3s) so you can listen to them on your iPod, iPhone or computer, whenever or wherever you want.

It has thousands of breaking stories every day from 900+ sources and you can share audio versions of stories with friends and to other social sites like Digg, Delicious, Reddit, Twitter etc.

I ran across http://www.vendordemo.com the other day. If you are in business technology, you know companies like techtarget, bitpipe, and others. They allow technology companies to post demos, webinars, white papers and more so that prospective buyers can view them. Pretty interesting. And the cool thing is, it’s free. This is pretty rare in Technology marketing so could be a big hit if they can get some traffic.